"Nokia proprietary innovations protected by these patents are being used by the companies to enable hardware capabilities such as dual function antennas, power management and multimode radios, as well as to enhance software features including application stores, multitasking, navigation, conversational message display, dynamic menus, data encryption and retrieval of email attachments on a mobile device," Nokia wrote in a statement today.

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Although Nokia hasn't been the most litigious company in the mobile space, it has indeed sought to protect its intellectual property. Last year, in fact, the company signed a deal with Apple that saw the iPhone maker license a host of mobile patents from Nokia. The licensing deal came nearly two years after Nokia sued Apple for infringement.

Nokia didn't say which specific products HTC, RIM, and Viewsonic are offering that violate its patents. The company did point out, however, that it has licensed its patents to over 40 companies, seeming to indicate that it believes it has a strong defense.

"Many of these inventions are fundamental to Nokia products," Nokia's chief legal officer Louise Pentland said today in a statement. "We'd rather that other companies respect our intellectual property and compete using their own innovations, but as these actions show, we will not tolerate the unauthorized use of our inventions."

Both RIM and HTC declined CNET's request for comment on the lawsuit. However, an HTC spokesperson added that the company "has been a licensee of Nokia on wireless essential patents since 2003."

CNET has contacted Viewsonic for comment. We will update this story when we have more information.

About the author

Don Reisinger is a technology columnist who has covered everything from HDTVs to computers to Flowbee Haircut Systems. Besides his work with CNET, Don's work has been featured in a variety of other publications including PC World and a host of Ziff-Davis publications.
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